Sony has announced that they will not be present at E3 2019.
The company, being a console manufacturer, usually have a presence at the biggest video game trade show. Its E3 presentations were remembered fondly by fans, from the cheeky video of how to share games on PS4 to the trifecta of game announcements that was Final Fantasy VII Remake, The Last Guardian and Shenume III.
Speaking to Game Informer, Sony said: “As the industry evolves, Sony Interactive Entertainment continues to look for inventive opportunities to engage the community. PlayStation fans mean the world to us and we always want to innovate, think differently and experiment with new ways to delight gamers.
“As a result, we have decided not to participate in E3 in 2019. We are exploring new and familiar ways to engage our community in 2019 and can’t wait to share our plans with you.”
It was also clarified that Sony will not hold any sort of press conference during E3. So it’s not a case of them doing its own show away from E3 like EA.
With the high bar Sony has set for its presentations and the more limited line of exclusive games in the works, it’s a given. It’s better to not give a show at all then give a mundane one that can be compared worse to its competitors. The E3 2018 presentation had mixed reception due to its limited games on show, compared to previous years.
Sony also skipped its fan-focused Playstation Experience (PSX) for the year. Though PSX SEA did took place this year in Thailand.
While this could spark a conversation about the relevance of E3 today, this could be more of a hint that we are getting closer to a console generation change, we believe.
Via Game Informer